Spec critique

squerble · 18 Apr 2011 at 00:18

Looking at moving away from a MacBook (again!) into a PC with more guts.

Main use will be web/email/Office etc, but will also be used for gaming (nothing brand new, just a bit of FSX, Silent Hunter, HL2/CSS etc) and running VMs under VirtualBox (mostly Linux distros). Already have a monitor (an old 22" that runs 1680x1050), so no need for a new one (barely watch anything HD) and already have a Win7 Ultimate ready to install. Budget of around £550-600 so in budget at the moment.

Thoughts/changes? Many thanks

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £94.99
(£79.16) £94.99
(£79.16)
G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM) £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
(£68.32) £81.98
(£68.32)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 700W Power Supply £60.98
(£50.82) £60.98
(£50.82)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)
Logitech UltraX Premium Keyboard - OEM (920-000189) £14.99
(£12.49) £14.99
(£12.49)
Akasa AK FC-06BK Fan Controller Junior - Black £10.99
(£9.16) £10.99
(£9.16)
Gigabyte M6880 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £9.98
(£8.32) £9.98
(£8.32)
Akasa AK-190-SM Smoke Ultra Quiet 80mm Fan - 3 pin £3.59
(£2.99) £3.59
(£2.99)
Sub Total : £473.71
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £97.24
Total : £583.45

stulid · 18 Apr 2011 at 00:21

Did you know a 5830 is cheaper - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-258-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1711

squerble · 18 Apr 2011 at 00:27

Awesome, saved a tenner. Will the 5830 outperform a 5770? (Being sat with a Mac has really put me out of touch).

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM) £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £85.99
(£71.66) £85.99
(£71.66)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
(£68.32) £81.98
(£68.32)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 700W Power Supply £60.98
(£50.82) £60.98
(£50.82)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)
Logitech UltraX Premium Keyboard - OEM (920-000189) £14.99
(£12.49) £14.99
(£12.49)
Akasa AK FC-06BK Fan Controller Junior - Black £10.99
(£9.16) £10.99
(£9.16)
Gigabyte M6880 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £9.98
(£8.32) £9.98
(£8.32)
Akasa AK-190-SM Smoke Ultra Quiet 80mm Fan - 3 pin £3.59
(£2.99) £3.59
(£2.99)
Sub Total : £466.21
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £95.74
Total : £574.45

stulid · 18 Apr 2011 at 00:28

karlbbb said:
Will the 5830 outperform a 5770?

is the model number greater?

stulid · 18 Apr 2011 at 00:29

Whats wrong with this? - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-096-LO&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=951

squerble · 18 Apr 2011 at 00:31

Hey you're really on a money saving roll here

I just chucked the first optical drive on there as the only time I'll use the drive is to install Windows and any games.

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM) £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £85.99
(£71.66) £85.99
(£71.66)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
(£68.32) £81.98
(£68.32)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 700W Power Supply £60.98
(£50.82) £60.98
(£50.82)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
(£12.49) £14.99
(£12.49)
Logitech UltraX Premium Keyboard - OEM (920-000189) £14.99
(£12.49) £14.99
(£12.49)
Akasa AK FC-06BK Fan Controller Junior - Black £10.99
(£9.16) £10.99
(£9.16)
Gigabyte M6880 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £9.98
(£8.32) £9.98
(£8.32)
Akasa AK-190-SM Smoke Ultra Quiet 80mm Fan - 3 pin £3.59
(£2.99) £3.59
(£2.99)
Sub Total : £464.54
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £95.41
Total : £572.45

stulid · 18 Apr 2011 at 00:32

Ho hum - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-046-OC

stulid · 18 Apr 2011 at 00:42

Did you know it takes about 5.8 seconds in the BIOS to turn this - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1943 - into a 965BE cpu by increasing the multiplier by +1?

King Damager · 18 Apr 2011 at 00:51

stulid said:
is the model number greater?

To be fair to the OP, model numbers being greater doesn't necessarily mean better... Otherwise I should have got a 560 over my 480....

Should point out in this case he is right though...

kd

stulid · 18 Apr 2011 at 00:54

King Damager said:
To be fair to the OP, model numbers being greater doesn't necessarily mean better... Otherwise I should have got a 560 over my 480....

kd

Ah, but we are comparing the same family of GPU's, the 480 and 560 are from different gens, the *80 signifying its greater than the 5th gen *60 gpu

Marvin · 18 Apr 2011 at 01:53

My attempt:

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £107.99

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail - £95.99

Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard - £81.98

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) - £79.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) - £44.99

OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W Power Supply - £40.99

Coolermaster Elite 334 Midi Case - Black - £33.68

Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) - £26.99

LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM - £14.99

Logitech Ultra-Flat Keyboard (967653-0120) - £12.98

Cooler Master Hyper TX3 CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/775/1155/1156) - £12.98

Akasa AK FC-06BK Fan Controller Junior - Black - £10.99

Antec Tri-Cool 3-Speed 120mm Fan - Black - £1.98

Sub Total : £472.11

Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel - £12.50

VAT (20%) - £96.92

Total - £581.53

For the same budget as your original I've trimmed here and there where you're not going to notice any difference to be honest (CAS9 memory rather than CAS8 - £10 cheaper, 955 instead of a 965 - £12 cheaper and a simple BIOS tweak will get you to 965 speeds, 500W PSU as I doubt you'll need any more to be honest) unless you stare at benchmarks all day. Even then there's not much difference. In return I've been able to change certain bits to nicer/better bits (5850 instead of the 5770. Runs quieter and cooler than the 5830, and uses less power IIRC. CPU cooler - much better/quieter than the stock cooler, and will allow for a bit of overclocking. MX518 rather than the Gigabyte - personal preference though, but the MX518 is solid, as is Logitech's aftercare. Elite 334 because it's nicer...).

squerble · 19 Apr 2011 at 21:00

Thanks for all the input. I've not quite got the money yet but I'm mostly just seeing what I can put together for under £600